John Prine, Great American Songwriter, Dead at 73 -Rolling Stone

[Dan T.]

John Prine, who for five decades wrote rich, plain-spoken songs that chronicled the struggles and stories of everyday working people and changed the face of modern American roots music, died Tuesday at Nashville’s Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He was 73. The cause was complications related to COVID-19, his family confirmed to Rolling Stone.

 

Prine, who left behind an extraordinary body of folk-country classics, was hospitalized last month after the sudden onset of COVID-19 symptoms, and was placed in intensive care for 13 days. Prine’s wife and manager, Fiona, announced on March 17th that she had tested positive for the virus after they had returned from a European tour.

 

As a songwriter, Prine was admired by Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson, and others, known for his ability to mine seemingly ordinary experiences  — he wrote many of his classics as a mailman in Maywood, Illinois — for revelatory songs that covered the full spectrum of the human experience. There’s “Hello in There,” about the devastating loneliness of an elderly couple; “Sam Stone,” a portrait of a drug-addicted Vietnam soldier suffering from PTSD; and “Paradise,” an ode to his parents’ strip-mined hometown of Paradise, Kentucky, which became an environmental anthem. Prine tackled these subjects with empathy and humor, with an eye for “the in-between spaces,” the moments people don’t talk about, he told Rolling Stone in 2017.  “Prine’s stuff is pure Proustian existentialism,” Dylan said in 2009. “Midwestern mind-trips to the nth degree.”

 

Prine was also an author, actor, record-label owner, two-time Grammy winner, a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the recipient of the 2016 PEN New England Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence Award, a honor previously given to Leonard Cohen and Chuck Berry. Prine helped shape the Americana genre that has gained popularity in recent years, with the success of Prine fans such as Jason Isbell, Amanda Shires, Brandi Carilie, to name a few. His music was covered by Bonnie Raitt (who popularized “Angel From Montgomery,” his soulful ballad about a woman stuck in a hopeless marriage), George Strait, Carly Simon, Johnny Cash, Don Williams, Maura O’Connell, the Everly Brothers, Joan Baez, Todd Snider, Carl Perkins, Bette Midler, Gail Davies, and dozens of others.

 

 

More:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/john-prine-obit-253684/

 

[Mooka]

RIP

 

John Prine is the best performer i've ever seen. T

 

I saw him at the Fillmore in SF and he didn't take a single break. During the downtimes he'd tell stories and make sound effects with his guitar. 

[LadySkinsFan]

He's one of my favorites. RIP John.   

 

Illegal Smile.

[Dan T.]

His cancers changed his voice, but not his sense of humor or his humanity.

 

 

[Jumbo]

saw this last night....one of the truly great american musicians

 

rip john and thank you---see ya friday night

[Spaceman Spiff]

One of the best ever.  Really sad.  RIP John Prine.

[Dan T.]

I hope Heaven's ready for him:

 

 

[Dan T.]

This piece from the Rolling Stone seems to be a good window into John Prine as a person and songwriter.  It brought some smiles:

 

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/inside-the-life-of-john-prine-the-mark-twain-of-american-songwriting?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 

And here's the first image I ever saw of him, on the cover of his Sweet Revenge LP: